Four-time Major winner Ernie Els could be starting his 23rd and final Masters this week as he plays on the final year of his five-year exemption as the 2012 Open Championship winner.

If it is indeed his last hurrah at the famed Major, Els is particularly upbeat about his time at Augusta.

‘You can put a line on it and say most probably it will be the last one,’ Els said. ‘We’ll see, unless we do something down the road. But you know, it’s been good. Whatever. If I come back again, great. If I don’t, it’s been good.’

Els has had two great chances to don the green jacket, the first in 2000 when he finished runner-up to Vijay Singh after his putter let him down coming home and the next, more heartbreaking, in 2004 when Phil Mickelson left him stranded on the practice putting green as his hopes of a playoff vanished with the sight of Mickelson leaping in the air following his birdie on 18.

‘That was a blow,’ Els has said in a quiet reflection. ‘I didn’t play quite good after that.’ That’s correct, Els has not featured in the top ten since that day and has seen his world ranking plummet down to 410. The Big Easy has made only one cut in his last 10 starts and missed last year’s cut after opening with an 80.

An icon in South Africa, Els may never win the elusive Major and never return to host Tuesday’s Champions dinner, but he does have a place in the hearts of South African fans, a thriving Els for Autism foundation, the respect of his professionals and 57 worldwide victories.

Els record since 2004: 47, T27, CUT, CUT, CUT, T18, T47, DNP, T13, CUT, T22, CUT

Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images